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Britain’s prison crisis has reached breaking point after judges were told to jail only the most dangerous criminals.

Severe overcrowding has forced Home Secretary John Reid to issue the advice in an attempt to reduce prison numbers.

But he has been accused of “criminal negligence” for blocking prisons with petty offenders.

Prison Reform Trust director Juliet Lyon said: “Ministers are right to call at last for jails to be used more sparingly, not because they are full to bursting, but because the Government’s own scaremongering tactics have blocked prison beds with petty offenders, vulnerable women and children, addicts and the mentally ill,” she said.

“The Government has been guilty of criminal negligence to allow prisons to get into such a terrible mess without intervening earlier in a planned way.”

Her remarks come after the Home Secretary John Reid, Lord Chancellor Lord Falconer and Attorney General Lord Goldsmith wrote to judges and magistrates in a bid to try to relieve some of the pressure on Britain’s overcrowded jails.

The prison population of England and Wales is hovering around its capacity of about 80,000 places.

The Home Office confirmed that a wing with 176 places at Norwich Prison declared “unfit” by inspectors is to brought back into use from today because of cell shortages.

The BBC has also reported that prison spaces are in such short supply that about 480 people stayed in police cells on Monday and cells in the Old Bailey were also made available this week.

The Home Office has defended the letter to magistrates and judges, saying it was a necessary stopgap measure before plans to create a further 8,000 prison places come into being in the spring.

Mr Reid said: “It is necessary to a civilised society that those who are a danger to our society are put away.”